‘Garage Band’ Paints Music

The graphic novel Garage Band by Gipi isn’t a new book, but one that I haven’t seen or heard about until now. The publisher is First Second, the same people who put out American Born Chinese, one of my favorite graphic novels of all time. Garage Band is by Gipi, an Italian writer and artists, and this novel was originally in Italian. The art is so different from Japanese manga and American-style comics that I immediately didn’t like it and was drawn to it at the same time. It’s done with wavy inked lines and water color. Watercolor in a comic book!

I wouldn’t use the word “beautiful” to describe the art in these pages because there is too much reality. The four main characters are young men who are skinny, with hair on their arms and sharp noses. But when they play their music, alone in a garage, the movement in the paintings shows the savage beauty in singing about their lives and dreams.

The story is simple: four young guys in Italy with no promising future beyond low-wage jobs. But they love music and have formed a band. The set-up is that they finally have a place to practice of their own, a large garage owned by Giuliano. The voice of the whole novel is from Giuliano. His father is more in love with his breeding dogs than his son, but the son takes all the love he can get, even if it’s just a dirty space to play with his friends. The gift of a father is a big part of this book. Giuliano, Alberto, Alex and Stefano yearn for, accept, and reject their fathers’ love in different ways.

Each chapter is about one of the songs. Gipi does not write lyrics or try to describe the tune. Instead the art depicts their energy, while Giuliano’s voiceover (if that’s what you call it in a graphic novel) describes what the song is about: “Alberto’s father was always healthy…he was sick only once…but that was enough to turn him into a different person…this first song is also about him…and it’s about Alex, with his stupid Nazi fantasies…about his mother and his Aunt…and the afternoon they will spend in their parked car spying on Alex and his friends…and finally, it’s about the garage itself…about how glad we are to have a place to practice…a place all our own.”

I got this graphic novel from my local library, and both my teen girl and I read it. I asked for her opinion, and she got a thoughtful smile on her face, “It wasn’t epic…it was just…I liked it.” This is a book for teens and up, not because there’s anything objectionable, but because it will bore younger readers looking for comedy or adventure. Check it out.

Rebecca Angel is a homeschooling mother, creative arts teacher, and musician in upstate NY. She is into graphic novels, anime, table-top games, and funky tights. ,